How the Bay Area can help victims in Las Vegas

With more than 500 people injured at the concert, there have been calls for blood donations from service agencies including the Red Cross. Also, a Go Fund Me page for Las Vegas victims was set up early this morning with an original goal of raising $500,000, though nearly $2,000,000 has been donated to this point.

That site was set up jointly by the sheriff of Clark County, where Las Vegas is located, and a commissioner there who is running for Governor of Nevada.

And gun violence does tend to bring up politics. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders addressed that today, saying, “there will be, certainly, time for that policy discussion to take place, but that’s not the place that we’re in at this moment.” Here in California, though, Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon issued a strongly worded release stating, “Weapons of mass death have turned our great nation into a shooting gallery and Congress must act to stop it.”

This is the time when California Governor Jerry Brown is considering whether or not to pass new legislation. He’s got at least seven bills related to firearms on his desk right now. One of those would actually dismiss a current requirement that courts give longer sentences to people committing certain gun crimes, including those with assault weapons.

The governor, for his part, issued this statement today: "Our prayers and deepest sympathies are with the families and loved ones of those killed and injured in last night's tragic and senseless shooting and we stand with the people of Nevada in this difficult time."